Cops: Clinton woman tried to vote twice

Published 12:00 am, Sunday, May 23, 2010

CLINTON -- A local resident was caught attempting to vote twice in the town's budget referendum earlier this month, according to allegations currently under police investigation.

Police said the resident is alleged to first have voted using the name of a bona fide Clinton resident, and then returned to the Town Hall polls to vote under her own name.

Little guile was used in the ruse, according to the complaint police are investigating, because the individual returned to the polls -- and the same poll worker -- only moments after casting her first vote.

Police say the woman was spotted by two other poll workers and prevented from casting a second ballot.

While the allegations are under investigation and may lead to an application for an arrest warrant, police are not revealing the name of the suspect. They also could not comment on her motive for attempting to vote twice, nor could they say whether she voted for or against the budgets.

The referendum soundly defeated both the town and school budgets proposed for the coming fiscal year, leading to a $1.3 million reduction in planned spending and a second referendum Wednesday.

Police Chief Joseph Faughnan said the case may be the first incident of voter fraud in town referendum history, and the allegations touch the "most basic tenet of our voting process: one person, one vote."

"The elections officials do a good job," he said, "but she came in with an apparently legitimate name that passed her the first time through."

Referendums, unlike elections of public officials, are open to registered voters and to owners of taxable property in Clinton valued at more than $1,000.

The incident was reported to state election officials and to police by Registrar of Voters June Hansen, who was not available Friday for comment about the matter.